The growing need for new advanced energy absorbing systems demands materials having increasing energy absorption capacity, and decreasing weight. Such materials find applications in a wide variety of technologies, including military armor, body armor, blast resistant materials, springs, automobile bumpers, protective covers or padding, or in any device that must absorb energy.
Recently, some attention has been focused on applying porous materials to advanced energy absorption systems. In such systems, infiltration pressure, pin, is an important factor governing system performance because the energy absorption mechanism cannot be activated until the applied pressure exceeds the infiltration pressure. Unfortunately, current technology limits researchers to systems based on pure water. Accordingly, infiltration pressure is primarily adjusted using surface treatment techniques and by controlling pore size. As will become clear herein, the present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art.